Lucea and I met up this afternoon and gave the darkroom a thorough clearing up. Everything should be ready to start running again except for one little problem - the door doesn't shut. The flooding has caused the wood near the floor, both in the door and the frame, to expand to the point where the door no longer fits.

So the darkroom's not dark, until we can sort this out. I think we should be able to just sand down the edge of the door near the bottom until it fits again. We also need to replace the curtains, which were ruined in the flood, that hung over the door to stop light getting in around the edges and along the bottom.

Let's organise another session soon to finish off the job and do some test printing.

Hey, sorry its taken me a while to respond I've been busy recently as well. Next Thursday would be perfect for me though I may have work in the afternoon. Also noticed there's an artist working group meeting on Wednesday. Anyone going to that? If I'm free I'll be there.

Unfortunatley I have to work tonight unexpectedly, I just got a call from my boss, so I can't make the meeting. Either way, I want to get in there on Friday and/or this weekend to set up those curtains and get the ball rolling. I was wondering if there would be fabric for this in that room of curiosities (workshop), or else I will go buy some. Also, how can I access the money for the darkroom to buy light bulbs, fabric, safe light(?), etc. I'm thinking of going in on Friday (maybe do some sanding?) and going back on the weekend with the supplies.Hope all is well.

Okay. I can probably make an appearance at the meeting. I'm away Friday to Sunday so can't help then I'm afraid. If you buy anything just keep a receipt and you'll get paid back ASAP, or if you need money up front just let me know.

Hi guys, If there is anything, anything at all I can do, please let me know through this forum, I am free this weekend so, just tell me when to go and where. Lucea said she has to buy some stuff, so I can at least help out with that

hello!I went in yesterday and chiseled the door down, so it shuts now!, and I also put up some curtains so the room is completely light tight. Next step is to resolve the safelight situation, which I think a couple of light bulbs will do a lot of justice, and running a test print. It seems like all the chemicals are there, though I'm not sure in what condition, but I guess this is what we will figure out. Hopefully I will be able to get those bulbs and run a test after Wednesday. Let me know if anyone's interested in coming along, and we can coordinate. -Lucea

There is one safelight still working - the round one at the far end of the room - on which about half the area of the filter is taped up because the filter material is cracked.

So one could just about print now, but it would be sensible to sort out both safelights with new filter material - and the square one on the wall by the dryer needs a new bulb too.

Also, the electricians didn't wire the safelights up right when they redid things, so they're on separate switches which aren't controlled from the big easy-in-the-dark switch by the door. It would be good to rewire them correctly at some point, I could do that.

Alright, so all the the safe-lights are up and running. There is still an extra one which is missing the crucial red gel to make it darkroom safe, so if we could get one of those from somewhere then we'd really be in business. But otherwise its all ready to go. I'm planning on going in tomorrow to start printing and test out those chemicals. I'm not that familiar with Ilford, but from what's written on the wall I can figure it out. If anyone fancies coming in and helping out I'll be there, or give me a ring. It would also be great if we could somehow get a little ventilation going in there, as I'm sure there are spores a plenty from the flood, and is good to have in a darkroom either way . So if this means installing a fan bringing air in from the outside world, or just buying/donating one that would be a good thing to think about. Also I used the curtain that had separated the enlargers for the door, so Nicks said he would install some plywood there. Another thing to think about. Ok, thats all for now..

Last week's artist facilities meeting got pushed back a week to yesterday, not sure if you caught that. Anyway, I went along and gave an update on how things were going. People are glad to see the darkroom is getting back on track.

There was some discussion of how access to the room should work, given that users have to go through the workshop where there is some concern about safety of tools. General consensus was that there should be a list of authorised users, who can then sign the key out from the kitchen. I'll help you put this list together at the same time as we go about letting old users know things are back online.

When we're sure everything's working okay, it would be good to start thinking about running a beginners workshop at some point too. Anyone up for planning something like that?

We went in yesterday and made a print! So the darkroom is officially running, however the Leitz enlarger seems to have a watermark on the inside of the lens which I couldn't figure out how to take care of. Also on the other enlarger there is a slot above the negative tray which lets light out from the light bulb directly behind it. I don't know if something goes in there, or its just a missing piece that needs to be covered up. So maybe you could take a look at them Martin, or anyone who is familiar with them? Also I'de like to know how the filters work on the Leitz, so if we could go in together and have a brief run down that would be great. In terms of getting people in, that sounds like a good idea-having an authorized list. People are interested in starting to get in there so we should try to set it up asap. My friend and I would be open for doing a beginners workshop as well, so I will start thinking about that.Let me know when your free if you're up for looking at that enlarger.

I think the slot on the M370 BW enlarger is probably to slot a filter holder into, but we've never had the right bit to go in there and Fergus was just using it with a bit of tape over the hole.

As to the mark in the lens on the Leitz, that's a great shame as it always used to work fine. I guess some moisture got in while the room was flooded. I'll have a look at it. We might be able to strip the lens down and clean it.

The Forest Artist Facilities working group is meeting on Wednesday at 7pm again, would be good if one of us could go along and report on where things stand with the darkroom. Lucea, are you around then?